Now that you’ve made a recipe and gotten your beer into the fermenter, what should you do? “Why would I need instructions about that?” you might be thinking. One might think that it just needs to sit. But even doing that can be hard. I know that I was very anxious to taste and get my first beer finished; it can actually be a chore to do nothing about your beer. The focus of this article is manifold.  Above is a picture of my glass fermenter with a towel that I wrap around it.

First off, watch for signs of activity. Your airlock should be active within 12 to 24 hours. In fact, it ought to be pretty active between 12 to 36 hours. Your airlock is your signal that all is well with sugar, yeast, and oxygen: fermentation is happening. The temptation to peak in on your glass fermenter is great. Okay! Remove the towel and take a quick peak at how crazy the beer looks in the glass vessel–because it is neat to watch. Just make sure that you are not letting a ton of sunlight hit your beer. In some sense, watching the fermentation happen is almost as rewarding as drinking your beer.

Second of all, just be patient and keep your fermenter closed. You may be tempted to keep opening the beer to see if it actually smells like beer. After a while, you can actually get the aromas though your bubbling airlock, so this is not a temptation that can’t be fulfilled in a way that is actually sanitary. Once your beer has calmed down, it is important that you keep the beer closed off to prevent the introduction of new oxygen in to the vessel. Just avoid letting haste cause problems for you.

Third of all, watch your time. You don’t want to exceed two weeks for your primary fermentation cycle. Too long a time can affect how your beer tastes. Just keep track of when you put it in the fermenter and how active it is. Don’t give in to the temptation of checking every five minutes; once or twice a day will suffice.

Better beer tips: Make sure that your beer has a consistent ambient in which to sit. Let me translate: keep your beer in a place where the temperature is consistent. You probably put your yeast in at 70-75 degrees, so try to find a place where you can put your beer that will be kind of close to 70. The beer will raise in temperature because of the chemical reactions taking place, but you are going to want to keep the beer in a place where you can control the temperature. I like to keep the beer between 65-75 degrees. Whatever temp that you choose for this ambient, make sure that it stays at the chosen temperature. Fluctuations of 5 to 10 degrees in a beer can cause some off-flavors, so stay committed to keep the temperature of the area where you are fermenting at the exact temp that you choose to keep the room. Don’t flip out about one or two degree fluctuations, but be careful not to allow larger swings. Care here ought to help ensure a good fermentation and storage cycle.

Rack your beer to a secondary fermenter. Once you see your airlock inactive and level on the liquid, you can transfer the beer to a secondary fermenter (if you purchased one). Be gentle. You want to keep oxygen to a minimum at this point. You don’t want oxidation in your beer, so be easy on moving the vessel and the beer. Choose a fermenter that is 5 to 5 1/2 gallons (or whatever size is commensurate with your brew). You don’t want too much head-space for oxygen to fill.

What does putting the beer in a secondary fermenter do? First of all, it takes the beer off the trub (a.k.a., the waste by-products of fermentation). You will clearly see what I mean by trub when you look at the bottom of your beer. Beer that sits on trub for more than 2 weeks can affect the flavor and quality of a beer. Off-flavors that picked up during the fermentation can “leak” back into the beer as the trub degrades. Getting your beer off the trub helps to keep “leaking” from happening. Also, your beer will mature cleaner and faster when it is off by-product. Additionally, the beer will be filtered by the movement, leaving less sediment when you bottle the beer. At this point you can “top off” your beer. You probably won’t have a full five gallons of beer…that’s okay! What you can do is boil some water (never use tap water that hasn’t been boiled) and cool it to the temperature of your beer and gently transfer it until you get five gallons of beer.

The third “better beer tip” that I can offer regards cooling the beer. I’ve already stated that temperature fluctuations can cause problems, but it is mainly during fermentation when this happens. Do you have an area that is cooler? Do you have a beer fridge? This is a trick that I wish I knew when I started out. Here is what you do: when you have put your beer into secondary, you can inch the beer to 50 or 55 degrees; this will mature and clean the beer up. If you are able, you can gradually work the beer down to close to 32 degrees. I say gradually because you don’t want to “shock” the yeast (it is still alive and active in the beer) by changing the temperature rapidly. However, “lagering” any beer, even an ale, can be very beneficial. If you are able to do this, you should. Two to four weeks of this process will do wonders for your beer. Don’t get me wrong, it will still be good if you don’t do this. This step is optional for an ale.

***Note*** if you are making a recipe that is a lager or uses lager yeast, you are going to have to get the beer to 50-55 degrees within a short time of your primary fermentation and get it close to 32 during secondary. This is not an option if you want a good lager beer.

***Post-Note*** Anything you do in the way of moving your beer into a secondary or using a racking cane must be done in a sanitary fashion. Always put sanitation and cleanliness first.